Ukraine’s SkyUp Airlines to launch Belgrade flights


Ukrainian low cost carrier SkyUp Airlines will introduce flights between Kiev and Belgrade this coming winter season. The carrier will run two weekly services between the two capital cities, each Tuesday and Friday, starting October 27. Operations will be maintained with the airline's Boeing 737-700 aircraft, which has the capacity to seat 149 passengers. Tickets are bookable through the company's website. SkyUp will become the first Ukrainian carrier to operate scheduled commercial flights to Belgrade since Aerosvit Airlines ended services between Kiev and the Serbian capital in June 2011 due to "technical reasons". The airline has since filed for bankruptcy.

SkyUp Airlines will fill the void left by Air Serbia which suspended flights to Kiev in March until the summer of 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Serbian carrier has maintained services to the Ukrainian capital on an off and on basis over the past few years. In 2014, Air Serbia cancelled plans to launch daily flights to Kiev due to instability in the country at the time. However, it introduced six weekly rotations between Belgrade and the Ukrainian capital in the summer of 2016, utilising leased equipment from Adria Airways, however, it lasted only a single season. It then rebooted the route in the summer of 2019 which was maintained until the start of Covid-19.

SkyUp Airlines is a privately owned low cost carrier, which has flown seasonally to several coastal cities in the region, primarily to Croatia and Montenegro. It began operating charter flights in 2018 on behalf of tour operators and scheduled services, predominantly to leisure destinations. Since restarting operations on June 26, the LCC has been gradually increasing its operations in Ukraine and internationally. with a number of new routes planned for late October with its fleet of eight B737-700, B737-800 and B737-900ER aircraft. One-way tickets to Belgrade start from 44 dollars without baggage. SkyUp is based at Kiev’s main airport of Boryspil. Further flight details for the new Kiev - Belgrade service can be found here.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:03

    Nice surprise!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:05

    There was always demand between Belgrade and Ukraine, even in the 1990s. I'm sure SkyUp will do just fine with those dates. They will also stimulate additional demand on the market.

    Nice to see BEG's recovery start.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous09:09

    Very good schedule and ideal for a city break.
    Interestingly, they also fly with a 737-900ER to CMB!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      They also have quite a few MAXs on order.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:57

      How is it ideal for a city break, though? If you're travelling Fri-Tue you need to take two days off, and spend 4 nights in Kyiv. It's decent, but far from ideal.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous17:50

      You don't have to take Friday off as the plane leaves in late afternoon.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous09:09

    That was unexpected.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:51

      Definitely, but nice to see.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:10

    These eastern European airlines seem to be doing fine in BEG. For example today B2 is sending their B735 while their E95 has almost become a regular in BEG. I hope next summer they add more flights to Belgrade and to increase it at least to 4-5 weekly flights.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous09:10

    Guess we won't see JU resuming this route.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:12

      I don't think so. KBP was mostly transfer destination for Air Serbia

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:12

      Unfortunately I doubt it now, these guys seem to know what they are doing. They also have fares JU can't compete with.

      Delete
    3. JATBEGMEL13:26

      Its early to tell. Things are changing daily as airlines rebuild their networks.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous09:14

    Nice addition.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:15

    Love this, Belgrade is getting such a diverse list of airlines and destinations

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous09:16

    Do they offer connections?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:47

      No, unfortunately.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:48

      You can always buy two separate tickets. They are fairly cheap.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:55

      But the flight arrives quite late to Kyiv, are there departures at around midnight?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:58

      They do. For example they have a flight to Amman at 23.45 (same days as BEG arrival). Or for example Colombo at around the same time.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:03

      Colombo could be extremely interesting as I saw many ads around Belgrade. I know some people who went and they flew on FZ. SkyUp could be a nice and probably cheaper alterantive.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous10:24

      Is an hour enough to self-connect in KBP

      Delete
    7. Anonymous10:59

      It's extremely risky. I'd never do connections on separate tickets without at least 5 hours in between.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:31

      Sri Lanka is amazing and worth every penny! Go there with no hesitation! Buy BEG-KBP-CMB.

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13:16

      I hope they will start selling them and to offer yet another option when going between the two countries.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous21:11

      Absolutely agree, Sri Lanka is such a wonderful place and for Serbians as affordable as Hurghada or Antalya .

      Delete
    11. Nemjee07:08

      What's interesting is that Sri Lankan has had a codeshare on QR flights for quite a few years now.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous09:17

    Nice to see new routes at this day and age.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09:20

    Good to see this route has found a replacement so quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous09:20

    The fares they are offering are great.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:20

    Are they a classic LCC?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:45

      Well the lines are blurred in today's day and age. You have fares with and without luggage. There are hot and cold meals for which you have to pay but can preorder.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous09:24

    Love that livery.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous09:25

    So if things go to plan, three new routes will start at the beginning of the winter season: Kiev-Belgrade by Skyup, Budapest-Belgrade by LOT and Stuttgart-Belgrade by Eurowings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:26

      And two of them are former JU routes which didn't work out for them... or ones which they didn't try hard enough.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:28

      Which is good that those markets found a more competent replacement. Funny how people complain about JU distorting market because of subsidies and then we get news like these lol

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:48

      @9.25 and then 9 new routes by Wizz next summer.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:31

      It's really good that BEG is still showing signs of life especially with the airport expansion coming along quite nicely.

      Delete
    5. JATBEGMEL13:33

      @ 09,26

      1 is a former JU route as of now (BUD), not 2.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous09:30

    The more new airlines the merrier.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous09:31

    who?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:39

      SkyUp Airlines.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous09:34

    Wow, well this was unexpected. .. Anyone knows more details about this carrier?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous09:39

    They are launching a lot of new routes. Amman, Colombo, Stockholm, Bratislava, Belgrade, Dubai and Istanbul.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Once again Bravo BEG and once again Shame on you ZAG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:56

      Why? Windrose announced ZAG long before SkyUp announced BEG. They will come once the EU ban on Ukrainians passes.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:03

      They will not come to ZAG before November 2020. At least planned so but might be delayed.

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/06/windrose-to-launch-kiev-zagreb-service.html

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10:06

      There has been an update since then. It has been cancelled
      https://www.exyuaviation.com/2020/07/windrose-delays-ljubljana-cancels-zagreb.html

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:07

      Thank you. I missed that.

      It seems that guy from Rijeka was right.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous10:26

      So which cities in the wider region have scheduled flights to Kiev besdies BEG and BUD?

      Delete
    6. Anonymous11:18

      Split and Pula. Both 3 pw seasonal mostly on A321 and sometimes on the brand new ATR 72.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:22

      No year-round except BUD and BEG?

      Delete
    8. Anonymous11:24

      What happened to those Dnipro flights to Sofia? I think they operated it with E145

      Delete
    9. Anonymous11:35

      Windrose and Ryanair both fly from Kyiv to Sofia. SkyUp flies from Burgas to several Ukrainian cities.

      Delete
    10. Windrose flights to Bucharest, year round.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous12:42

      SkyUp has scheduled flights to TIA also, seasonal only

      Delete
    12. Anonymous13:49

      So it means that from ex-Yu BEG is the only airport to have year-round connection with KBP.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous09:46

    Hopefully it will be used by Ukrainians and locals from Serbia too.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous09:46

    I'm not so sure this will work out long term, especially on a B737-700 but let's see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:47

      I think Skyup cooperates with Ukrainian tour operators. So they might be able to get tour groups.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:55

      B737-700 is smaller than B738. Why not?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous09:57

      A friend of mine flew on Belavia a few weeks ago, packed B733 and about 20 passengers connected to KBP. There seems to be a lot of O&D demand.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:25

      I think B2 profitted greatly from this situation, they were among the first to resume BEG!

      Delete
  23. Anonymous10:04

    I think Vinci encouraged them to come because they will operate during the quiet period when BEG gives special discounts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:23

      It's good that they are proactive.

      Delete
  24. Anonymous10:12

    The cheapest tickets without luggage

    BEG-KBP 45 EUR
    KBP-BEG 39 EUR

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:16

      That's very decent. For how much did JU sell these tickets?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:26

      Return was never below €170

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14:21

      Excellent price. Kudos!

      Delete
  25. Anonymous10:14

    Which of their planes can make it to Colombo?

    B739?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:16

      Yep

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:09

      How long is that flight?? Must be uncomfortable in an all economy narrow body to fly from Kiev to Colombo.

      Delete
    3. Nemjee07:11

      According to their website it's 11 hours and 45 minutes. I guess there is a technical stop and a lot of flying around as they can't overly Russia, Crimea included.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous09:32

      Thats insane !
      I can not imagine how they make any profit with that route .

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:24

    You snooze, you loose Air Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:53

      I find it surprising JU cancelled this route considering Serbs enter Ukraine and Ukranians can enter Serbia without restrictions.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous22:08

      People do not automatically travel somewhere just because there are no entry restrictions. Demand for travel is down generally because many people are A) scared to fly, B) scared of leaving their country and C) scared of having some overnight rule change ruin their holiday. I mean there are no entry restrictions for Mexico but you don't see flights being launched there.

      Delete
  27. Anonymous10:39

    I remember LWO CEO said that they are looking for flights because there is demand from tour operators. SkyUp is owned by tour operators so who knows, maybe in the future we see BEG-LWO twice a week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:41

      Well if it weren't for Covid it would have happened this summer.

      https://www.exyuaviation.com/p/air-serbia-belgrade-lviv.html

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:42

      Somehow I think SkyUp would be more convenient.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:04

      Serbia is also desperately trying to rebuild the tourism sector here after covid. If these guys are backed by tour operators then I am sure they are going to work on bringing Ukrainians to Belgrade. This is something JU has never been good at, sure they carry locals and transfers but bringing tourists requires you to work with different actors and that's where they always fail.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22:06

      ^Air Serbia has not been good at it because that requires actual work on the ground with tour operators. There is a reason the world's major airlines still have representative offices in various markets and not just GSAs who handle another 10 airlines. Surprise surprsie, the only city Air Serbia has an actual representative office is New York and those flights have performed very well in terms of loads and they have excellent cooperation with ethnic tour operators across the US.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous01:32

      Thats it, the tour operators like it or not, are the core of tourism and hospitality services !
      No way leads around them .

      Delete
  28. Anonymous11:18

    Good to see some new routes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:04

      Fingers crossed all three new routes from BEG for this winter are launched.

      Delete
  29. That is nice news.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous14:03

    Brilliant, love it!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous17:52

    I just hope this is sustained and not cancelled before it starts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:03

      Don't think so.

      Delete
  32. Anonymous17:52

    Ukraine has been posting record numbers of new infections in the past 30 days. If it continues will it affect SkyUp plans?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17:55

      Most European countries have been reporting record infection rates. Should Air France, Iberia, KLM, Brussels Airlines, Aegean all be worried too?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:59

      It is obvious this virus will come and go in waves. We're going to have to learn to live with it somehow otherwise all industries will go bankrupt.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19:14

      Iberia, KLM, Brussels Airlines are not serving Belgrade. France is not posting record numbers. Those posting record numbers should be worried, like Ukraine.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19:16

      France is reporting its biggest numbers in months.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous20:45

      Germany as well, Italy is back at 600 infections a day, Greece is currently seeing an explosion of corona. I think SkyUp is optimistic as we are soon going to get the Russian vaccine and all will be well.

      Delete
    6. Every major airport in Ukraine offers Covid19 tests upon arrival or departure in case you need it.

      Delete
  33. Anonymous17:56

    this route has always been unstable with JU. Hope SkyUp has better luck.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous21:34

    As long JU has a monopoly on a route prices are high , the route performs bad and gets canceled .
    When JU gets competition on a route they lower prices, the route performs better and prevails .
    Sounds funny but that is just like it is !
    That is always the pattern, so competition on the Kyiv route will even help Air Serbia to become more succesful .

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous22:03

    For those interested. Their interior seems quite good and modern
    https://www.avianews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/skyup_cabine_overview.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous22:10

    I'm assuming they are relying on Ukrainians using these flights but they should also do some promotion in Serbia. No one in Serbia has ever heard of Skyup. I mean ASL Airlines failed from Charles de Gaulle with great prices simply because they had no promotion and no one even knew they existed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous01:26

      Promotion should not be a problem at all if one thing is considered :
      Promotion has also to be done by tour operators and not only by the airlines themselves .
      So you get to know about the airlines even if you dont book with them in the end .

      Also the airport could promote itself with presenting the airlines flying to it .

      Delete
  37. I was surprised in Belgrade about the number of Serbians who told me that they have already been to Ukraine on some kind of a monastery tour. I am sure if the prices of the flights become more and more competitive, there is a market for both SkyUp and Air Serbia.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous02:02

    Monastary tour - hahaha... please. Once you've been to Ukraine (especially Kiev), any red blooded male will be dying to go back. That aside, it also has a lot to offer for those in Belgrade without 'complexes' about travelling east. SkyUp is well regarded in the Ukraine, so let's wish it luck! I for one will be one of the early passengers

    ReplyDelete
  39. It obviously depends on your circle of friends... :)

    ReplyDelete

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